How to Brew Your Own Booch

Love kombucha but want to cut back on expenses? Brew your own. It’s easy to do, tastes great, will save you money and it’s healthy too!

Sourcing a SCOBY

All kombucha starts with a healthy SCOBY (symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast). This rubbery disc of living cultures and bacteria is what turns sugar tea into delicious fizzy, sweet and sour kombucha. There are 3 main ways you can go about sourcing a SCOBY.

1. Ask a friend (acquaintance or local brewer)

This one is pretty straightforward and once you start brewing you’ll understand why. With every batch of booch you make, you produce a new SCOBY. So, most home-brewers have SCOBYs coming out of their ears and will be happy to share one with you. Don’t know anybody who brews? Put a shout out on Facebook or ask on Reddit’s thread Find a Scoby.

2. Buy a commercial SCOBY

You can buy SCOBYs online or from local brewers pretty easily these days. Perhaps the biggest advantage to buying a commercial SCOBY is they’re pathogen-tested for safety. When shopping online you have 2 options. Either you can buy a live SCOBY which will come with some starter tea or you can buy a dehydrated one, which you will need to rehydrate.

3. Grow One

If you’re still having a hard time sourcing a SCOBY, you can also grow your own from a bottle of plain raw kombucha. It’s becoming harder to find unpasteurized and unfiltered booch at the shops but it’s not impossible. Look for kombucha made by small-scale local brewers with lots of the good yeasty stringy bits or a floating baby SCOBY. Pour the raw kombucha into a sterilized glass jar, cover with a cotton dish towel or coffee filter secured with some string, and store in a warm place, out of direct sunlight. Once it’s looking big and strong, start making your own kombucha.

Before You Get Started

Ok, so you’ve got your hands on a healthy SCOBY, but what next? Before you get started brewing your own booch there are a few basic things you need to know. For safety reasons, it’s super important you brew in a clean space. You don’t want anything to get into your booch that could cause mold. Be sure to remove all dirty dishes, fruit, plants etc. from your brew space and wipe down the counters. Same goes for your brewing vessel and bottles which will need to be sterilized. (Note: Since kombucha is acidic, you should only brew and bottle using glass containers - no plastic and no metal which could disintegrate or go rusty!). When handling the SCOBY make sure your hands are squeaky clean. Always wash them and then rinse them with some white vinegar before touching the SCOBY.

What you’ll need:

• 3 quarts water (preferably distilled or filtered)
• 1 cup white sugar
• 6-8 black tea bags
• a SCOBY
• 1 cup starter tea (strong kombucha)
• a gallon size glass brewing vessel
• clean cotton dishcloth
• string

Instructions:

1. Prepare the sugar tea. In a big stainless steel pot, boil the water. Add the sugar and dissolve. Add the tea bags and brew for 10 minutes. Remove the tea bags and cover the pot with the clean cotton dishcloth.
2. Let the tea cool to room temperature. This step is really important as hot tea can kill your SCOBY. Be patient. If you’re in a rush, you can make a concentrated sugar tea and then add cold water to the mix to speed things up.
3. Pour the cooled tea into your sterilized brewing vessel. Leave a couple of inches of room at the top.
4. Add the starter tea to the brewing vessel.
5. With clean hands, add the SCOBY to the mix. Don’t worry if it floats or sinks. Your baby SCOBY will eventually form a new layer at the top of the jar.
6. Cover the vessel with the clean dishcloth and secure it with some string so nothing can get into your kombucha.
7. Store your kombucha out of direct sunlight in a warm place and leave to ferment for 7-10 days. Your brew time will vary depending on climate and batch size. After 5-7 days it’s a good idea to test your booch daily so you can tell when it’s ready. It should be tart, and slightly acidic but still have some sweetness.
8. Bottle and refrigerate.
9. Optional: Bottle and flavor with chunks of fresh fruit or juice. Leave to ferment an additional day or two at room temperature. Burp the bottles daily to release excess gas. When ready, refrigerate.